re-loading and the 2 types of CIVers

[tigerden27]

I use reload about 2-4 times a game. Usually, it's a D'uh error, like I forgot that my Galley was in their territory before declaring war, or I mis-clicked and declared war on on my bestest friend.

I've just moved up a level (to Monarch) and used it quite a bit in Regent as a learning tool. For example:
1) Am I ready to go to war with those nasty Netherlandese? Or should I wait 10 turns for Chivalry?
2) Do I need Bombers and Tanks to take out the Ottomans? Or will my Cavalry work just fine?

I would actually play it out both ways sometimes. Each time I did I found the first conclusion (obvious one) to be the best. So that's why I moved up to Monarch.

BTW: I am a joy civer.

 

[Svar]

By Ision's definition I'm a Joy CIVer because I'm lazy and can play really really fast by reloading whenever I make a fat finger mistake which can be quite often. I have been playing this way since Civ 1. However I have to agree with ainwood. I started playing Gotm 20 and it was very tough and very very slow because I wanted to check everything twice before hitting the next turn button. I lost Gotm 20 but learned a lot and steadly improved through Gotm 24 I think. After C3C I quit playing Gotm until they incorporate C3C but have started playing HOF games. I haven't completed any yet but they are really challanging and keep up my learning curve. When I need a break I play one of the Conquests in my reload mode as I haven't finished them all yet.

Is reloading cheating? Only in competition and I'm so paranoid in competition about not reloading that I sometimes leave my computer on overnight if I haven't played more than 20 turns in the later phases when some turns take almost 1 hour to complete. If I never reloaded playing the competitions would go faster for me but 10 years of bad habits die hard.

As an aside, my daughter and her husband played some multiplayer games together and my son-in-law always won because my daughter played the same way I did by reloading all the time so she didn't know how to play any other way.

 

[Brewster]

I reload under certain circumstances:

1) Fat Finger Mistake - Forgetting the movement value of my curragh and accidently leaving it in the ocean or moving a worker onto the wrong square at the beginning of the game.

2) Start of a War - I like to try our different techniques and strategies in a given situation. The reload allows me to do that for learning purposes.

3) Trading with the AI - This happens when I screw up in the dipomacy screen and give away too much or declare war when I did not intend to. I may do this once every two or three games.

4) Starting a Game - I will reload only if the start is totally heinous.

I don't see reloading as cheating unless you are playing a competetive game. I would classify myself as a joy-civver and want to enjoy the game to its fullest. I like some adversity in my games but I also like to know I have a safety net if things get too hot.

 

[Sedai]

Funny, I don;t think I have ever reloaded a game of Civ3, and I am confused as to why you would. I guess I see Civ as a realistic game, and if something bad happens I deal with it, If it gets to the point that you have lost unless you reload, I think you have lost it's time to start the next Civ

What are the reasons people reload? Starting position? losing cities?


Sedai

 

[Dr Corbett]

What is the random seed, anyway? :|


Aside from that, uh, I will reload every once in a while. IE, Spearmen DO NOT kill Modern Armour. They get RUN OVER. Oh, look at me, HA! Take my mighty spear! What, it brok -- SPLAT

 

[greentea]

I reload sometimes, but don't use it as a strategy. I don't reload lost battles. I used to reload culture flips and sell the city, which really seems like cheating, but I was learning the game then. Now I don't do that for the simple reason that flips don't occur that often. If it does happen I will take the city with other means. I do reload when I accidentally make a mistake. The other occasion on which I might reload is when someone declares war on me. I prefer peace if it is possible. A situation I really hate is when s.o bullies me for a tech. I don't consider myself immoral in this case - I just enjoy peaceful victory more. However, in my last games I am getting more of a warmonger, so I might soon become a no-reloader. Accidental strokes of a key don't count for me - I am just too impatient to evade that.

 

[SesnOfWthr]

I don't actually reload games due to bonehead moves or poor decisions. Quitting due to a bad start etc is a different story however.

 

[Sinapus]

Originally posted by mintyfreshdeath
Friendly Hun tribes give you a map of the local area. RELOAD. Barbarians. RELOAD. Maps again. RELOAD. Maps AGAIN. RELOAD. Maps..... it's not gonna let me get anything! RELOAD. 25 Gold. RELOAD. Barbarians (remember to wake one fortified Warrior so it doesn't go to the end of the turn and I have watch the Barbarians attack). RELOAD. MONARCHY!
And to think: some people find this game HARD!

Ironically, I tend to reload when I start getting too many techs from the huts.

 

[Dave D-Day]

I only reload if I feel that going into a Goody Hut only to find it deserted is a bit harsh. Especially if Russia just got the Nuclear Fisson technology from the Barbarians.. (?!)

 

[Halcyon]

As ever I'm probably stuck between the factions. I only really reload if I press the wrong button and stand to lose some vital unit or twenty as a result, or if the Mystic Spearman and his ilk make too overt a showing. Unfortunately while I kicked the reload habit long ago, I've not quite kicked the associated habit of saving the game too much. The bad thing about this is I tend to use the time spent saving in a subconscious attempt to make my fingers shorter.

While I can survive and do damage at the harder levels, I dislike the amount of fiddling about which is often required to get by - I don't play this game for the joy of micromanagement. It's still no fun without a challenge, though, so I disagree with the 'joy' playstyle - that just gets boring, and you'd never finish a game like that. I tend to play on the intermediate difficulties (i.e. Regent-Emperor) but with various self-imposed rules, editor alterations or custom maps to make the game more challenging without the unsubtlety of 'AI does everything faster'. So, do I joy or do I drama?

 

[grs]

After switching from a reloader to a never-reloader I gained about 100% more fun in each civ game. I reloaded very frequently before, but now my advice is to start a game and forbid yourself to reload - for me it worked

 

[Zurai]

I'm definately a "Joy" player, but I only reload when I make really stupid mistakes, like forgetting that enemy Mercenary (hidden nationality land unit in my personal mod - the computer LOVES them and it actually makes the computer very, very aggressive) that moved into range of my undefended city. I don't reload for bad fight results (well... I'd be tempted against a true magic unit, like a spearman that kills 3-4 Cavalry in a row), I don't reload for missing a wonder by 1 turn, etc.

 

[Sims2789]

I only reload if there is a cluture flip during a war. It is just to unrealistic. Imagine if when the Nazi's captured Paris, the Parisans said, "We declare that we are part of France due to our culture. So what if you have a bazillion troops here. They will magically disapeer.) Otherwise, unless there is some other extremely illogical thing that happens(suchs as two Modern Armors losing to a Warrior), I do not reload.

 

[Civman2004]

I don't usually reload, although a couple of times recently at the higher levels I have accidentally clicked on GPT instead of lump sum. I really didn't want to pay 500 gpt and then get a rep hit after 15 turns when I couldn't pay it any more.

Recently too I got into an end-game battle with the Egyptians (I was playing as Greeks) where we both had nuclear weapons, so I reloaded a few times as I hadn't got into nuclear warfare before.

 

[dreamvirus]

I reload under some circumstances that people have listed above - for example if I get a terrible starting location (is that really reloading though? Seems to me you're just starting a new game...)

One of the most frequent types of reload I do is what I call the "preserving my monitor" reload. This happened last night - I had 4 veteran and 2 elite swordsmen attacking a size 2 town on plains with no walls, 1 regular spear and 1 regular horseman in it. You can guess what happened. I ony had two alternatives after all my units were dead - throw my monitor out the window, or reload and NOT ATTACK that town until the next turn.

Now, you might call it cheating, unrealistic, whatever, and I did feel a little bad about it. But then I just remember the cost of a new monitor (and a new window) and I don't feel so bad any more. I admit I have anger problems ;-)

Now having said that, reading this thread has persuaded me to drop down to Emperor or Monarch level and try a no-reload policy to see if it's more fun.

 

[Denarr]

I tend to go back and forth between frequent reloads and no reloads.
It's like using invulnerability when playing DOOM; sometimes it's fun to just annihilate your opponents.
Most of my reloads are at the beginning of the game; generally to get the lay of the land for my first town placement.
Right now I'm working with the Ancient Mediterranean mod. Reloading takes about 10-20 minutes (I've never timed it) and if I do something that's going to take me 20 turns to correct because I destroyed a unit when I was supposed to have moved a unit to safety instead (For example: the computer tells me I'm moving a worker, and I move it toward a city, and instead of the worker moving, a trireme loaded with settlers moves into the sea and sinks.) then I reload.
As for the fun factor...I'll sometimes quit a game just because it has become a meaningless exersize in town maintenance, waiting for the last part of the spaceship to be built, or one nation with two towns left is waiting for me to rebuild my military for the final battle on his remote island paradise.
Other times, I'll keep playing even when the enemy has converted some of my cities repeatedly, and has built towns in places that cost me 100 turns to remedy.
I've had games that I've reloaded 20 times in a row to take out a musketeer with a warrior, and I've had games when the enemy has taken out half my towns and talked the whole world into declaring war on me.
Sometimes I'll let kids crawl all over me in the morning, and sometimes I bark at anyone who even talks to me within the first two hours of waking up. Maybe I'm bi-polar; it's all just a mood thing.

 

[Mano3]

I can't get into the minute details of the game. I like to play it for fun, but be challenged. Guess I'm "joyful"!

I do move up in levels if I can win 70% of the time. I'm on Monarch now.

I alos play CIV about 95% when compared to my other games. Just keep coming back to it!

 

[dze27]

I consider myself more of a "joy" player but I only ever reload when my fingers do something different than what I meant, things like

(a) hit "B" (join city ) on my settler instead of "G"
(b) clicking through diplomacy screen too fast and gifting techs by mistake

It's not a question of ethics for me, I just feel that you can't monitor your own progress if you are reloading and giving yourself an advantage.

I always try to play on a level that challenges me. My philosophy is: it doesn't count as winning if there was no chance of losing

 

[Red_Player]

Ok, heres my deal.

I am a Joy player. Its the idea that I am writing my own history that excites me. I reload a moderate amount.

But, its not developing strategies and becoming better that excites me, its imagining the world I am creating. In that way I am writing a story, so I don't think reloading is wrong, its CREATIVE LICENSE.